Concrete mattress finisher having rotary surface leveling and finishing elements



July 17, 1956 BEYER 2,754,733

CONCRETE MATTRESS FINISHER HAVING ROTARY SURFACE LEVELING AND FINISHING ELEMENTS Filed March 6, 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. I.

I JJ

INVENTOR A R NOL D BEYER ATTORNEYS.

July 17, 1956 BEYER 2,754,733

CONCRETE MATTRESS FINISHER HAVING ROTARY SURFACE LEVELING AND FINISHING ELEMENTS Filed March 6, 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 P? E. I H fig- 3L INVENTOR ARNOLD- aE ATTORNEYS July 17, 1956 A. BEYER 2,754,733

CONCRETE MATTRESS FINISHER HAVING ROTARY SURFACE LEVELING AND FINISHING ELEMENTS Filed March 6, 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet. 3

INVENTOR ARNOLD BEYER WAM MW \mfA/WW ATTOR EYS July 17, 1956 A. BEYER 2,754,733

CONCRETE MATTRESS FINISHER HAVING ROTARY SURFACE LEVBLING AND FINISHING ELEMENTS Filed March 6, 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet. 4

FIG.4.

INVENTOR AR NOLD BEYER WAIZEWMW ATTORNEYS United States Patent CONCRETE MATTRESS FINISHER HAVING ROTARY SURFACE LEVELING AND FIN- ISHING ELEMENTS Arnold Beyer, Memphis, Tenn., assignor to Weymouth Construction Company, Memphis, Tenn., a corporation of Wisconsin Application March 6, 1952, Serial No. 275,133

' 7 Claims. CI. 94-45 This invention appertains to improvements in machines for leveling and finishing concrete surfaces and is a continuation-in-part of my copending application, Serial No. 273,591, filed February 27, 1952.

In the above application, a concrete mattress leveling and finishing machine is disclosed, the surface of the mattress being leveled and finished by rectilinearly reciprocating screeds carried by a mobile carriage and mounted on the carriage for vertical adjustment.

The primary object of the instant invention is to provide a rotary blade unit that includes a plurality of rubber blades or paddles, which are radially mounted on a rotatingwheel and which constitute a series of floats for leveling and finishing the upper surface of a concrete mattress.

A further object of this invention is to provide a vertically adjustable supporting frame for the rotary blade unit, so that the blade unit can be raised and lowered relative to the upper surface of a mattress. Such concrete mattress is approximately four feet wide, twentyfive feet long and three inches in thickness and the method of construction consists of casting approximately five hundred to seven hundred squares of mattress on the ground and then casting additional mattresses on top of the ground layer or initial mattress. Subsequent mattresses are cast on top of the first mattress, the mattresses being separated by two thicknesses of kraft paper. The mattresses are cast in stacks twelve high or over thirty-six inches in overall height.

A further object of this invention is to provide a selfpropelled carriage, which supports the rotary blade unit and which is designed to straddle the mattress with the blade unit being'suspended therefrom and being driven by a prime mover, independent of the prime mover for propelling the carriage.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a plurality of resilient blades or paddles, which are radially mounted on a horizontally disposed, driven wheel and which are retained in engagement of the upper surface of, the mattress by resilientreinforcing members that overlie-the free, surface engaging portions thereof.

These and ancillary objects and structural features of merit. are attained by this invention, the preferred embodiment of whichis set forth in the following description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein: I

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a concrete mattress finishingand leveling machine, constructed in accordance with this invention;

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view thereof;

Fig. '3 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of the'machine, illustrating the means for rotating the blade unit and the means for raising the supporting frame for the blade unit and retaining the same in adjusted positions;

'Fig. 4 is a view in perspective of the blade unit and supporting frame;

Fig. Sis a longitudinal sectional view taken on 'line 5-5 of Fig. 4;

Patented July 17,1956

Figure 5a is a vertical section on the line 5a--5a in Figure 5 taken at an enlarged scale showing the angularly disposed tongues declined from the spokes of the finishing wheel.

Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the blades or paddles;

Fig. 7 is a top plan view of one of the resilient reinforcing members, and

Fig. 8 is a top plan view of one of the blades, showing the same mounted on one of the supporting bars.

Referring now more particularly to the accompanying drawings and initially to Fig. 1 thereof, the concrete mattress finisher 10 includes an open rectanguar frame 12 on which a housing 14 for a conventional internal combustion engine (not shown) is mounted. Rearwardly of the housing, a seat 16 is fixed on the frame and an axle 18 rotatably underlies the seat with the ends thereof projected beyond the sides of the frame. The axle is driven in the usual manner by the engine through a transmission and differential (not shown).

A pair of tubular legs 20 and 22 depend from the sides of the frame at the front end thereof and support steerable ground engaging wheels 24. The wheels are steered by the steering wheel 26 from the drivers position on the frame 12 through a conventional steering linkage 28. Rear ground engaging wheels 30 are supported by stub axles 32 which are carried by the lower ends of standards 34 that depend from the sides of the frame 12 at the rear ends thereof. The wheels 30 are driven by the axle 18 through chain drives 34a which include sprockets 36 fixed on the extending ends of the axle 18 and large sprockets 38 fixed on the stub axles 32. The sprockets are connected by chains 40, which have their forward reaches entrained under an idler sprocket (not shown) mounted in a housing 42 which is carried by a depending bracket 44.

The tubular legs 20 and 22 are spaced apart and are rigidified by a cross bar 46 and by diagonal braces 48, which are connected between the brace 46 and the front of the frame and the legs and the sides of the frame. Similarly, a cross bar 50 and bracing are provided for the standards 34. The legs and the standards are spaced apart the. distance of the width of the frame 12, which is wide enough to overlie a concrete mattress 52, as seen in Fig. 2. Thus, the legs and the standards, carrying the front steerable wheels and the rear drive Wheels, straddle the concrete mattresses, as the machine is driven by an operator down a row of cast mattresses, which are in a plastic state. To protect the sides of the freshly poured mattress, guard plates 54 are provided. The guard plates are elongated and curved transversely of their longitudinal center lines, with their concave sides being suitably afiixed to the inner surfaces of the legs 20 and 22 and the standards 24 as seen in Figs. 1 and 2. The convex sides of the faces of the plates face inwardly in confronting relation, so that they engage the opposing sides of the mattress 52, and, thus, prevent the sides from being gouged or scraped by the legs and standards, as the machine is moved over the freshly poured mattress.

As seen in Fig. 4, an open rectangular frame 56 of smaller dimension than the frame 12 is provided and is formed from connected steel channels. Upstanding tubular supporting members 58 are mounted at the corners of the frame 56 and are slidably disposed through openings in cross bars fixed to the opposing sides of the frame 12, in a manner as set forth in detail in my co-pending application. The tubular supporting members 58 connect the frame 56 to the frame 12, so that the frame 56 is suspended from the frame 12 inwardly of the guar plates 54. v

Means is provided for raising and lowering the frame 56 relative to the upper surface of the mattress "52' and in 66, which is pivoted on the outer leg ofeachbracket .62

and urged into restraining engagement with the teethby. a

coil spring 68, which has one end'anchored' on the. pin 70' carried the outer leg of the supporting bracket 62. A removable crank (not shown) is used to rotate the winches or drums and raise or lower the frame '56 through cables Pulleys 74 are vertically carried by brackets 76 which have their webs'fixedly superimposed on supporting .plates 782 The supporting plates are. secured .to the inner corners of the frame 56'. The winches. 60 are grouped to.- gether in pairs, as seen in Figs. 1. and 3, withthe winches Gil-and 60" of Fig. 3 being supported by brackets 62 that are secured to a plate 80 carried by the side of the main frame'12. A similar-pair of winches are supported by the other side of the frame 12, with a winch being provided for each corner of the frame 56 and having its. associated cable" entrained under one of the pulleys 74 at thecorner of the frame 56. The cables extend from the winches and are entrained over idler pulleys 82, which are vertically supported by arms 84 that extend from the mainframe 12'. The cables 72 are entrained under the pulleys. 74 and have their ends secured to the main frame in any suitable manner and, as seen in Fig. 3, the ends 86' of the cables may be secured to the supporting arms 84 for the guide pulleys 82-.

Thus, when it is desired to raise the frame 56, after the first row of mattresses have been finished and leveled and the second layer of mattresses have been freshly poured and are ready to have their upper surfaces leveled. and

finished, the frame 56 is raised by individually rotating.

winches 60 to successively lift each corner of'the frame. The extent of adjustment is usually approximately three to fourinches or approximately the height of a single mattress.

A rotary leveling and finishing unit 88 is carried by the frame 56=and includes a circular wheel 90'. The wheel 90 is rotatably supported by the frame 56 and rotatably underlies the frame 56. The hub 115 of the wheel is formed with a socket 117 to receive a shaft 93 which is.

disposed within a shaft housing 92. The housing 92 is provided with a mounting flange 94 which is bolted onto a cross bar 96, the bar being formed with an opening to accommodate the shaft 93. The ends of the cross bar are suitably secured to the opposing sides of the frame 56-fo'rwardly of the center thereof. A gear reduction casing 98=-i'smounted on the upper end of the shaft housing 92 and a conventional gear reduction unit (not shown) is housed within the casing 98. A shaft (not shown) is enclosed within the laterally extending tubular'casing 109 on the casing 98 and is drivingly connected to the gearing for driving the shaft within the housing 92. A large pulley 102 is fixed on the shaft, which is disposed within the tubular extension 100 and a belt 104 is connected tothepulley 1'02 and to a small pulley wheel 106, which is fixed on the drive shaft of a prime mover 108, such as a conventional gasoline engine. The engine 108 is supported by the rear end 110' of the frame 56 and" by a cross bar 112.

The rotary finishing and leveling unit 88' includes the wheel 90 which has a series of' evenly spaced radial bars 114 extending between the hub 115' and the rim or outer ring 11 6. The bars are formed'wi'th longitudinally-spaced Finishing blades or paddles are provided and are preferably formed from resilient or flexible material, such as rubber. The blades,.as seen in Fig. 6, are substantially triangular in plan and have affixing sides 122 and working sides 124. The minor or inner ends 126 of the blades are concave, while the major or outer ends 128 are convex, with the sides converging relative. to. the minor end; The side 122 is formed with spaced apertures 130, that are adapted to be alignedor registered with the apertures .118 in the bars 114 for. the passage therethrough of securing bolt units. As seen in Fig. 5, the sides 122 of the blades are folded over onto the body of the blades and secured with the adjoining plate of the body of the blades by rivets 129' to the undersides of the bars 114 and to the undersides of the. flanges 121 and 123. The manner of mounting thus somewhat rigidifies the working sides of the resilient blades, which are bowed at their mounting edges and have their working sides in flat wiping engagement of the upper surface of a mattress. it will be noted that rectangular tongues or pressure blocks 131 extend rearwardly from the rear edges of the bars 114 and'engage on the center part of the blades to achieve the upwardly bowed condition of the blades. The blades are under a spring'pressure and urged into contact and pressing engagement with the concrete surface and act as floats to level and finish the upper surface of the mattress.

The flexible blades 120 are secured to alternating bars or every other bar 114 with reinforcing or spring biasing elements 134 interposed between the blades and secured to alternating bars 114. The elements 134, as seen in Fig. 7, are formed from rubber or similar resilient. ma-

terial and are smaller than the flexible blades 120 but.

shaped similarly. The elements 134 have substantially concave inner or' minor ends 136 with convex outer or major ends. 138 and have an apertured side 140. The side 140 is folded over and secured to alternating bars 114 in a manner identical to the mounting of the blades 120. The free sides 142 of the reinforcing elements v134 are spring biased due to the bowed condition of their mounted sides which are engaged by the blocks 131 and the free sides 142 engage on the upper surfaces of the working sides 124 of the blades so as to exert apressure thereon and retain the working sides under pressure in contact with the upper surfacev of the mattress. The pressure exerted upon the. plastic concrete by the. resilient blades serves to. give greater density to the concrete and a better finish free. from valleys and protuberances. The rotary unit eliminates hand work in distributing and finishing the concrete and the end result is a much more workmanlike job and a better, cheaper mattress.

In operation, the mattresses are formed or cast in rows and while in a plastic state or freshly poured condition, the machine 10 is driven by an operator over each row. T hev machine straddles the row and thesuspended frame 56 is held by the cables 72 and pawl locked winches 60 in a lowered positionsov that the blades are positioned to rest on the upper surface of the mattress. The wheel 99 is rotated by the gear reduction drive and belt transmission under the drive of the engine 108 and, as the machine is driven over the row, the blades rotate on the surface of the mattress. The. blades make contact with and exert pressure on the freshly poured concrete, the flexible blades having a floating action to level. and finish the surface.

To. achieve best. results and realize .a reduction in time and labor, two of the machines. are used, the first one beingself-propelled and driven by an operator while the second machine is drafted or towed thereby. The wheel 90: and associated blades of the first machineare rotated in a clockwise direction, while. the blade unit Having thus described this invention, what is claimed 1s:

1. A concrete mattress leveling and finishing machine comprising a first frame adapted to straddle and be moved longitudinally over a concrete mattress, a second frame vertically adjustable carried by said first frame, a finishing Wheel rotatably carried by said second frame, drive means carried by said machine connected to said finishing wheel to impart rotary motion thereto, and resilient blades secured to said finishing wheel and being positioned to contact the surface of the concrete mattress with varying degrees of wiping pressure dependent upon the height of said second frame above the surface of said mattress.

2. A concrete mattress leveling and finishing machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein said finishing wheel is disposed with its axle substantially vertical and said resilient blades are secured by their leading portions to said wheel along a radius thereof.

3. A concrete mattress leveling and finishing machine as claimed in claim 2 further comprising spokes on said finishing Wheel spring means one end of which is carried by alternate spokes of said wheel lying between the spokes to which said blades are secured, the other end of said spring means being adapted to abut said blades and urge an intermediate portion of their transverse width into wiping engagement with the surface of the concrete mattress.

4. A concrete mattress leveling and finishing machine comprising a first carrier member adapted to straddle and being movable above the surface of a series of concrete mattresses laid in successions of vertical tiers, a second carrier vertically adjustably carried by said first carrier, a flexible finishing member secured at its leading portion to said second carrier member to be wiped over the plastic surface of the concrete mattress incident to the movement of said second carrier member, and pressure applying means applied to an intermediate portion of said finishing member for urging such portion of said finishing member into contact with the plastic surface of said concrete mattress.

5. A concrete mattress leveling and finishing machine comprising a vertically adjustable support frame, rotatable flexible blades having convex surface engaging portions rotatably carried by said support frame and being adapted to Wipe over the surface of a Wet and plastic concrete mattress in a finishing action evenly distributing the plastic surface of the mattress, rotating means for rotating said flexible blades over the surface of said mattress, resiiient means urging said flexible blades into wiping engagement with the mattress surface, and means for raising and lowering said adjustable support frame to vary the height of the flap members above the mattress whereby the area of the mattress surface overlying portion of said resilient blades may be varied for different desired degrees of finish of the mattress surface.

6. A concrete mattress leveling and finishing machine as claimed in claim 5 further comprising a Wheel upon which said resilient flexible blades are secured, rotating means operatively connected to said wheel to rotate same and being carried by said support frame for rotating said resilient flexible blades to finish the surface of the concrete mattress.

7. A concrete mattress leveling and finishing machine as claimed in claim 6 wherein said resilient flexible blades are of rubber and comprise attaching leading edges attached to said Wheel on a radius thereof, a convex working surface, and a trailing edge, said blades being positioned on said wheel with the leading edge of each blade partially overlying the trailing edge of an adjacent blade.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,271,947 Ross July 9, 1918 2,101,895 Boulton Dec. 14, 1937 2,181,375 Leistner et al. Nov. 28, 1939 2,192,027 Crowder Feb. 27, 1940 2,277,389 Conway Mar. 24, 1942 2,529,749 Wade et a1. Nov. 14, 1950 

